


Burned Flesh

by RougueShadowWolf



Series: 15 Minutes [87]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Amputation, F/M, Hurt Stiles, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Injured Stiles, M/M, Mentioned Kate Argent, Sad Derek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-07
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-04-30 11:15:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5161811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RougueShadowWolf/pseuds/RougueShadowWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His mate, his husband had forgiven him, and Derek had thought all was well but then came the flames that burned so bright against the darkened sky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So fifteen minutes is back again, oh joy. So my dear friend let’s call her… Zany-the-zealous asked for a little story where Derek who either cheats and gets caught for it by Stiles and is forgiven or where Derek is cheating on Stiles and Stiles forgives him but regardless something happens that ruins everything, and this is what happened – ask me not why, it just did. 
> 
> Now in my head Stiles doesn't die, okay so no DEATH here just move along.

 

He knows he does know that he should drive straight home from work Derek was already running late, the meeting had drawn on and on. Derek knows that he should head straight home to his husband of seven years and their children but still he doesn’t,  instead of doing what would be the right thing that would have him home eating dinner with his family and helping Stiles get their kids through bath-time and to bed,  instead of doing what would guarantee him an evening close to Stiles Derek Hale took the wrong turn that would only cause Stiles renewed be it somewhat fragile faith in him to break; driving further and further away from their home Derek knows in his heart that what he’s about to do might cause Stiles to banish him from their bed, he knows that once he returns home to his husband there will be questions and probably yelling and most likely tears, and still he drivers to see _her_ the woman that had almost destroyed their marriage.

 

Derek knows that the more time it takes for him to get his ass home the greater Stiles’ fears and suspicions would become and the more damage it would cause their slowly recovering marriage, Derek knows that as time passed the greater the havoc would become as cruel little voices inside his mates skull would drag to the surface all of Stiles self-doubts and deep-rooted fears;  Derek knew what he was doing was as good as torturing Stiles like some sadistic hunter would, and he knows that this action of his will spur on bitterly familiar arguments. The werewolf is aware of the fact that he’s in no position to begrudge any of Stiles’ anger, suspicions, distrust or tears when it came to him and their marriage, after all Derek was the reason for the break in their once so solid relationship, he couldn’t blame Stiles if he was no longer willing to blindly believe that Derek working late was anything but that after all it wasn’t Stiles’ who’d had the affaire with his personal assistant.

 

Derek is playing a dangerous game he’s gambling his marriage just by driving to _her_ house instead of home where _he_ belongs. ****Derek knows in the back of his mind that this was all wrong, he’d promised Stiles that he would never again see June unless in brief passing and even then he wouldn’t give her the time of day, Derek knows he shouldn’t go and see June however she’d made a threat that had forced his hand to break his promise to his husband; the woman he’d foolishly trusted once hadthreatened to let the dirtier details of their affair to leak out not only to Stiles but the public in such a horrible way that would damage Derek’s reputation in more ways than one and kill his marriage. If indeed June did leak any of their private messages or gods forbid the sex-tape where Derek had said things that would cut what little was left of Stiles’ confidence and sadly there wasn’t much left of it now not since June had dropped the bomb that had broken not only their marriage but also Stiles; Derek had to watch as Stiles slowly spiraled into old bad habits such as skipping meals, and his husband hadn’t had any weight he could afford to lose to begin with. Still, if seeing June could prevent Stiles from hearing any of the shit Derek had said to June then so be it.

 

He feels sick and his heart is pounding with a sense of growing dread, he’s only once before felt thishorrible and that was on the night  when Kate had burned down his family, his wolf is whining and demanding they go home but Derek needs to see June and so he ignores the wolf.

 

Derek knows what he’s doing is wrong, and he knows he’s risking everything when he parks his car outside of June’s little house, it was only now as he parks his car next to June’s bright red Mini Cooper that he notices how the sky was thick with dark clouds,once he’s out of his own much more flashier car that was a dark as June’s soul seemed to be the front-door of the house opens andJune comes running up towards him much like she’d done in the past when they were destined to end-up naked and in bed.He puts his hands out in attempt to stop her from throwing herself at him, which has her pouting at him and with a whine she moves closer.

 

`Derek, don’t worry babe, ´she says in that special way that always made his dick twitch, her voice was sinful on the best and worst ways possible, `everything’s good.´ the wind shifts at that moment and he smells not only June’susual far too sweet scent but also something familiar and dangerous; fire and smoke, fear and blood, and underneath all of this sits the scent of his mate and children.

 

Derek’s heart drops as he recognizes the stench of destruction and ruin, death and sorrow.

 

The closer he looks at the woman who continues to move towards him like the seductress she’d been to him once the more disturbing June seems to him, June continues to speak but Derek’s deaf to her words as he and his wolf are suddenly startled by the horrific similarities that they now find between June and Kate not simply in the shape of their bodies but also the gleam in their eyes.

 

`June, what did you do?´ Derek feels dread spread throughout his entire body bleeding into that more animalistic side of him, watching June’s smile grow his dread grows tenfold and what she says with the horrific agony that hits him out of nowhere has Derek back inside his car and driving like a lunatic towards his house.

 

 _`You’re free to be with me now Der-bear.´_ the words haunted Derek as he drove like a mad man home, and he screams in frustration and pain when the bond with his mate snaps, his car is too slow it feels like it’s just crawling down the familiar streets.His wolf begins to howl and whimper as the stench of heavy and thick smoke reaches them Derek feels like he’s about to be sick,he feels like all hope is lost when the sound of the sirens reaches him inside his speeding car.

 

Derek abandons his car keys inside the door wide open behind the gathering of morbidly curious people who stood there and marveled at the burning destruction of Derek’s life.

 

Watching as his life burns to the ground for a second time because of his poor decision making, Derek screams his despair into the night while rushing towards inferno entirely prepared to run into the house for the sake of his husband and children, he was entirely ready to burn with his family but before he’s able to fight his way through the wall of firemen and police officers that tried to hold him back Derek Hale hears the familiar cries of his children calling for him.

 

By some mercy one which Derek would forever be grateful for, all three of his babies are sitting inside of one of the ambulances all alive, Derek rushes towards the vehicle screaming the names of his little kids who answers him with cries of dad and daddy as well as dada, Derek just about shoves the female paramedic out of the vehicle.

 

Derek hugged his babies tightly thanking whatever power had seen fit to show him such glorious mercy, he’s just about to call for his husband when his middle child cries against Derek shoulder, `Daddy saved us.´ ****Derek feels a lump in his throat grow as his son tells him how a scary woman had dragged him out of bed and tied him up as well as hitting and kicking him before leaving, Derek’s son tells him how there had been so much smoke that he couldn’t breathe.

 

`Dada save us.´ Derek hears his baby girl cry, and from there on his oldest son continues to tell Derek how Stiles had saved each of their babies by lowering each child out of their bedroom window however before Stiles could follow he’d just vanished from sight.

 

It takes Derek a moment to understand what exactly his son has said, and when he realized that his mate hadn’t made it out of the burning building the only thing keeping him from chasing after Stiles is their kids, but he cries openly when he realizes that he’s lost his best friend and companion and not only that he’d lost him in the worst possible way. The thing is the more he cries the greater the distress of his children become, they are all sobbing so loudly that Derek barely hears a male voice shouting loudly, `Medic! We need a fucking medic! We’ve got alive one here! ´

 

Derek snaps his gaze over to the voice screaming loudly, he sees a fireman in almost full gear except for his mask which was covering the face of the dark figure wrapped in a singed blanket, soon enough a couple of paramedics are there and the blanket is removed as is the mask and Derek has no difficulty recognizing the face that is revealed even if it was burned on one side, and while Derek screams his husbands name one of the paramedic’s asks with an air of horror,  `Where’s his hand?´

 


	2. Burn Me To Ashes But Leave My Babies Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my friends that have taken a chance on this fic, this chapter was asked for by my friend who I have decided would be called Twitchy-Tyrannosaur and she wanted a look into what happened that night when June decided to go all Kate Argent on Derek’s family, and I did try to deliver what she wished of me but it was hard because I just couldn’t get going on for some reason, but any way she wanted Stiles to have forgiven Derek but to still hear a bit the struggle Stiles is going through as he deals with the fact that Derek had betrayed him and there family, she also wanted there to be the moment Stiles realizes he and his babies are in danger, and for some reason she wanted the following words to end the chapter and these words are Badass Mother Fucker.

 

Stiles cursed as he dropped yet another plate on the floor he’d scrubbed clean earlier that day, this was the third plate he’d dropped. There was a restless and agitated energy in him today that hadn’t been settled not even with all the floor scrubbing and window washing, or the hour long run he’d gone on while the kids were at school, there was just something of about him today that wasn’t right and the poor plate was just another piece of evidence of it.

Now if Stiles didn’t have to worry about alcoholism which ran rampant through his side of the family then he would’ve perhaps attempted to self-medicate himself with a glass of wine or something a bit stronger, but considering how close he’d come to slipping onto the same tracks as his father when Derek’s… No, Stiles refused to think back to that, he refused to give that anymore of his time, after all Derek was trying as hard as Stiles was to fixing their marriage.

Stiles mighty Sourwolf the very one who wasn’t known for having great conversational skills and especially not for talking about difficult things, had been the one to suggest couples counseling that was specialized in helping couples where one or both had cheated, and not only that Derek was seeing a therapist on his own and there was progress on both fronts; Derek was talking more and it wasn’t just about work or the kids, and Stiles knew Derek didn’t belittle the hurt he’d felt or begrudge the momentary increase of Stiles suspicious nature.

It was the knowledge that Derek was doing his all to fix what he’d broken, to fix himself that made Stiles go back on the statement he’d once made about never forgiving or staying with a person who’d cheated on him; but then again way back then when he’d announced firmly that he would never stay with a cheater Stiles had never thought there might be kids involved, and his children was one of the reasons why he was so determined to not give-up on his marriage because his babies deserved to not only have both their parents living under the same roof but also to not having to watch both their parents hating on one another.

  
Stiles looked over at his little ones that were seated on the floor playing one of their many board games since only Saturday was a day when the two oldest were allowed to play video games, video games that had to be approved by both their parents and that wasn’t easy to find since Derek would research each game before deciding if they were appropriate for his kids. It wasn’t easy to forgive Derek and Stiles suspected it would take years before he was truly able to say without his heart skipping a beat that he trusted Derek the way he’d done once before, but Stiles still loved Derek too much to just letting him go unless of course Derek asked to be set free and maybe even then Stiles would beg him to reconsider.

`God I’m such a sad idiot.´ Stiles sighed before starting to clean-up the mess he’d made.

He’s just got all the sharp little pieces cleared when his phone gives him that little sound that reminds him he has a drier to check, throwing one last glance at his kids he tells them that he’s going down into the laundry room that’s in the basement and to call for him if they need anything, his oldest huffs out, `We’re not babies dad.´ it’s just enough to make Stiles chuckle lightly because his kids would be his babies even when they were forty.

By the time Stiles has got one new batch of laundry in the washer and another in the drier both of which were big and loved by Stiles a great deal more than their first one back when it was just him and Derek, and in the old laundry basket that the kids liked to use as a boat in their silly little games from time to time were a bunch of clean clothes and towels; he did the laundry every other day and yet it seemed like there was always more laundry to be washed, but Stiles didn’t complain about it much these days since Derek had bought him the best washer and drier and a cleaning lady came around the house every other day except for Saturdays and Sundays, then again Stiles didn’t complain all that much when it came to his life the only complain; sure he still would cry to Scott from time to time about his fear that Derek would leave him one day after all Stiles wasn’t nearly as beautiful as some of the people Derek worked with or their friends, and Stiles didn’t have certain lady parts either and maybe that was why the whole cheating thing had hurt him as badly as it had since it confirmed a fear Stiles had during their early years.

Stiles checks his phone and curses a bit as he sees he’s running late, the kids should already either be eating their dinner or starting on their bowl of ice-cream, as Stiles moves up the stairs he wishes that he’d find Derek home and taking care of the kids but there’s no such luck and Stiles stomach twists unpleasantly.

Certainly this wasn’t the first time Derek was running late, and this wasn’t the first time he didn’t send Stiles a warning he was late, only last week he’d been late because he’d ended-up crying over Laura’s death at his shrinks office and the week prior to that his car got a flat-tire, and Stiles had due to his insecurities and suspicious nature checked to see if what Derek had told him was true which they were. And so not ready to panic or think the worst Stiles settled to just getting his kids around the kitchen table and as his kids devoured their food Stiles sent a message to his husband, who replied quickly with an apology that he was still stuck at work the image that followed of the picture of their family seated on Derek’s desk and the words attached to the sent image made him smile a little.

But at Least I can See you All. I miss you. Keep my dinner warm.

Of course Stiles would keep a plate warm for Derek, he always did. Stiles smile drops when Derek tells him to get back to dinner since it was a hidden plea for Stiles to eat, even though Stiles was hardly skinny well not as skinny as he was a while-back Derek still continued to pester him with food. Stiles looks down at the stew that he knew was Derek’s favorite since it was made according to the Hale-family recipe, Stiles knows Derek will be disappointed if he doesn’t eat at least a little and so he settles for eating a few carrots and a tiny piece of potato, Stiles skips on the ice-cream instead he focuses on making Derek a big old-plate of stew while his kids are finishing their ice-cream; he may of course check on his phone over and over again even while the kids take their baths and brush their teeth, he’s growing more and more agitated as the kids start to drift of into dreamland and he can’t seem to get a hold of his husband.

`Derek where the hell are you? ´ Stiles asks as he heads back downstairs what he doesn’t expect is the sudden pain that radiates from the back of his skull as he moves into the kitchen to clear away the plates and bowls left on the table, the last thing he hears before everything goes dark is a feminine voice laughing out, `Not here.´

~*~*~*~*~

It’s the screams that startle him awake, the panicked cries of his babies that pulled him back into a state of consciousness, it’s the horrible sound of his frightened babies that gets him to wake-up more so than the sudden difficulty he has when it comes to breathing. The reason for his sudden respiratory difficulties that are caused by a thick and heavy smoke wasn’t born form a burned dinner or singed cupcakes. The smoke is thick and makes his eyes sting and water blurring an already blurred vision, he’s sporting a terrible headache and the longer his eyes stay open the more sever his nausea becomes, but seeing unwelcomed flames licking up the walls of his kitchen he’d loved so much makes all of his discomfort vanish since none of it was any of great importance.

All that matters is for him to get his kids out of the house and out into clear and clean air outside the house that had suddenly turned into a deathtrap, and so with one focus on his slightly scrambled mind Stiles makes a move to get back up on his feet but he’s not even half-way up when he feels a painful pull where his wrist is. It takes his eyes a minute adjust to the sight before them and longer than that for Stiles brain to compute with the fact that he’s handcuffed to the fridge, and it takes a few experimental pulls for him to realize how absolutely fucked he is.

And as the realization that he’s handcuffed far too tightly to the fridge while his life was going up in smokes around him Stiles starts screaming, he’s not screaming the No’s he perhaps would’ve thought he would’ve shouted and he’s not screaming for his kids or his dad, the name he screams is that of his husband who had in the past always come to his rescue, but it doesn’t take all that long for Stiles to finally accept that Derek isn’t going to come riding on the back of a fireman Stiles mind begins to do what it’s always been brilliant at doing.

His phone is gone and there are no keys for the handcuffs that are set far too tightly to his left wrist for him to get free even if he dislocated his thumb, the damn thing was so tightly set that it had already caused Stiles whole hand to turn a nasty shade. Because of Derek’s stupid right to choose appliances for the kitchen he’s stuck to the biggest ass fridge in the universe one which Stiles just didn’t have the strength to move even when it was empty, and as Stiles’ eyes catch sight of the knife he’d used when making the salad he swears that in the future and there would be a future that there next fridge would be a tiny one.   
  
With determination set in his heart Stiles reaches for the knife that barely is there for his taking, and he laughs almost hysterically as his shaky hand grasps at it and he does laugh somewhat manically as he places the knife down beside him before he goes quiet with the weight of his focus now sobering him up; Stiles focuses on the task in hand using his own belt to create a tourniquet before bringing the messy knife down to his slightly discolored wrist.

He thinks as he makes the first painful cut that he could do this, after all some hiker had done it and he didn’t have three kids counting on him to save their young lives.

Stiles thinks about his babies about how terrified they all had to be as he put more strength behind each drag of the blade, he thinks about them as the dark spots dance before his vision, and he thinks about how horribly heartbroken Derek would be if Stiles failed to get their children out of the house safely, he thinks about everything Derek had already lost and suffered through as he’s sick over and over again, and he thinks about the tiny coffins that would house his children if he gave into the light-headedness.

He keeps on cutting until something feels of, wrong, and the knife feels like it’s cutting through air and nothing more.   
  
The smoke and the scalding air burns his lunges and he feels disoriented as he looks down at where his hand and wrist had once been attached, and it takes him shamefully long to realize that he is free or at least it feels like it takes his mind a forever and a month to comprehend the fact that he’d just cut his own hand off. But he doesn’t dwell on it long instead gathering the bloodied knife and rising to his unsteady feet, and he thinks as he staggers onward from one burning room to the next abandoning his shirt when it catches fire that he will die, Stiles thinks as he battles the Mount Everest of stairs that he will die to night that he will give in to the desires of the flames and the smoke and the heat that makes him feel like he’s being boiled alive once he had his kids out of the house.

Stiles doesn’t want to die, but he’s also well aware he is going to die, he’s losing too much strength in just moving up the stairs of which some are already burning. Stiles doesn’t want to miss his children graduating high school and leaving the nest, but he’s a realist and he knows this is what is going to kill him.

Reaching the second-floor of their burning home Stiles can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief when he sees that his children are together be it they are together and tied up and dumped on the floor like some stranger offerings to flames that were moving nearer to where they lay crying and screaming.

He’s not at his best but Stiles still moves as quickly as he is physically capable of at that moment between the lack of oxygen and blood and with the splitting headache to boot, and yet he does his best to sound calm and capable as he talks his panicked children down while he cuts the ropes off of their bodies, he orders each free child to get into the one room he sees is not yet in flames and it’s only later as he lays there on the bedroom floor that he realizes it’s his and Derek’s bedroom and that he’d just ruined Derek’s favorite sheets.

Stiles rushes into the bedroom with his youngest in his arms, closing the door behind him and barking at his son not to open the window until he is told to do so, why he does this Stiles isn’t sure although he has a feeling there is a reason for this. he grabs the pillows and shoves them against the door and the floor trying to keep as much of the smoke from entering through room as possible before he starts the destruction of the fancy looking sheets on the bed, he cuts them in half since none of his babies are very heavy and he needs more than one piece of makeshift rope to get all three kids outside.

It takes a couple of loud barks and one slap across the stunned face of his eldest before he is able to get the boy to help him tie the sheets together as well as around his midsection.

`Boyd,´ Stiles wheezes as he hands his youngest over to the oldest of his three kids, `You remember who you were named after,´ and the boy nods tears in his eyes, and so Stiles asks firmly, `What was Boyd above everything else?´

`Br-brave? ´

`That’s right.´ Stiles coughs before hugging his two babies goodbye, `And no I need you to keep up with him, alright?´ and the child nods and allows Stiles to guide him over to the window and then onto the windowsill, `I need you to be brave and take care of the little ones until dad gets to you.´ Stiles knows his son thinks he’s talking about himself, and that good because Stiles is fairly certain that if Boyd knew Stiles wouldn’t be around anymore that he’d start crying.

`You are going to be fine.´ Stiles tells his young son, kissing his forehead once before starting to lower him down onto firm ground, `I can hear the sirens dad.´ his son tells him and Stiles smiles at him before telling him a half-truth.

`That’s right, baby boy, everything is going to be fine. You’ll see.´

Stiles feels bad about how little time he gets to say good bye to his middle-child but he’s already feeling his heart stuttering and he feels unable to stay conscious much longer, and so he just hugs his rambunctious kid once and kisses both of the round soft cheeks before sending him down to join the others, Stiles smiles down at his children once before just dropping down to the floor too exhausted to try and do anything else; he hears them screaming for him, and it breaks his heart to think he’s leaving them like this, that he’s leaving Derek to deal with traumatized kids that would from now on carry the stigma of losing one of their dads in a fire.

But still Stiles is able to smile a little because even his broken human ass managed to walk through fire and get his kids out, this would prove to everyone that he was one big badass mother fucker.


	3. Turned to Dust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now here's a little chapter for this little fic. I know many of you will complain that this isn't what you order or expected for the following chapter, just know I'm not a restaurant with a set menu, sometimes an idea pops-up in my head and I just feel it needs to be written in here, and this stuff is for free people (except for time wasted perhaps). Now please try and enjoy this chapter, and wish me luck with the following few that will hopefully follow.

 

 The house lay in ashes. Bits of memories turned to dust.

His life forever changed, and it was so once more due to his own stupidity.

Still, at least this time not all was lost, after his and Stiles' children had survived the blaze due to the stubborn and self-sacrificing nature of their daddy, the media got it damn right when they called Stiles a hero and for once Stiles was not the unsung hero he’d been so many times before.

If Derek had lost them all, lost just one he’d surely lost his mind by now. It was the knowledge that his children were alive, that they were safe, and that Stiles continued to fight against the odds that kept him sane during the long hours of ruthless interrogation.

Derek was ashamed, mortified, of what he’d put his family through. He felt disgusted by what he’d done to Stiles and their little family, and although perhaps a small part of him wanted to play his affair with June down to just a one-time thing in the backseat of his car, Derek did no such thing as he was brutally honest and held to the truth with an iron-grip.

He’d been nothing but truthful in his statements, he’d held nothing back and gave the detectives the green light to search through his emails and messages, to dig through anything and everything they wanted to prove his innocence and to help convict the deranged woman who’d gone after his husband and children.

The only time Derek rose-up and refused to tell a lie was when he was accused of transpiring with June to kill his family so that he and the insane woman could be together, the claim that he’d do such a thing was shook him to the core for although Derek was flawed in many ways he would never wish harm or suffering on Stiles or their children.

He’d never wish death by fire to even his worst enemy, not even June whom he wished with all his might to never again to see the light of day. Derek might even desire to see June dead, but he did not wish her death to come in the shape of flames and burned flesh.  
  
It felt close to forever and a day before Derek was finally allowed to make his way to the hospital, a hospital with one of the best critical burns unit in the country, if not the best in the world. Whenever Derek had signed the checks, made his donations to this particular unite each year, never not once had he imagined that one of his loved ones would one day rely on specialized care it provided.

  
Exhausted with frayed nerves Derek was reduced to taking a taxi to the hospital, any attempts at reaching any of his and Stiles’ friends or family had been as useful as watching paint dry, none had answered his calls, none except for Melissa McCall who was looking after his and Stiles’ kids as she was the best besides Stiles at comforting them.

His children were doing fine. Upset, worried, and wanting to see both their parents. But they were fine, and Derek had spoken to them as he waited for his taxi to arrive. It wasn’t just the children left in tears after the short call, Derek broke down in tears as his heart could not take the anguish of his children who feared they might lose one of their parents.

Losing Stiles to death would be devastating in more ways than one. The scar, the hole, the vast emptiness that Stiles’ death would leave behind not simply within Derek but their children was something none would ever understand. The grief would be suffocating, lasting.

They could not lose him. Surely not?

The drive was agonizingly long, exhausting even. The sound of heavy rainfall drum against the roof of the smelly car made the stress-induced headache grow, but no amount of headache or other aches and pains could keep him from reaching the hospital and his husbands side.

Derek would be at Stiles’ side to the very bitter end if need be, he’d wait and hope to the very last beat of the most wonderful of hearts that Stiles had it in him to perform one last miracle, and perhaps he’d cling to some fools hope even after Stiles’ loving heart stopped that Stiles would come back with a cheeky grin on his face and say, `Surprised? I thought you might be. ´

All hope was not lost, not until Stiles heart had gone silent, not until his body had gone cold, this was what Derek had to believe as he walked into the grand and modern building that no one wanted to visit unless to give-birth or welcome new life into the world.

His steps were uneasy yet quick as he moved through long corridors and automatic doors, trying his best not to let the smells that assaulted his senses to drive him away.

There’s a part of Derek, a cowardly part, that wants to have him to run, to flee this place of pain and sorrow, agony and loss, to hide in the woods or at the nearest drinking hole until the battle of life and death had played out. However, the need to be with his husband who’d stood by him through the good and the bad outweighed the weakness of his nature.

Making his way towards a gathering of familiar faces, people known as family and friends had gathered outside what had to be the room Stiles was now kept in, Derek found himself not caring if these individuals would shun him, if anything Derek would deserved it.

Stiles and he may have kept his indiscretion from most of their friends and family, mostly due to Stiles wishing to keep his humiliation to a minimum and to avoid judgement from others, but now everyone knew no doubt why Stiles was fighting for his life.

`The last thing I want, need, is for everyone to tell me I’m stupid for trying to save my marriage and family, ´ Stiles had told both their marriage counsellor and the counsellor who did her best to help them through Derek’s infidelity and betrayal, and Derek had known then as he did now how true that statement was for everyone including his own sister would’ve demanded Stiles take the kids and leave him; and perhaps it would’ve been better for everyone except for Derek if Stiles had left him, at least then Stiles wouldn’t be fighting for his life.

Carefully approaching the gathered crowed Derek found himself unbothered whether or not Stiles did divorce him this time, as long as Stiles remained alive and there for their kids. Derek could deal with losing Stiles’ love, but he wasn’t all that convinced he wouldn’t lose it completely if Stiles lost his life because of his mistakes.

The first one to notice his arrival was Stiles’ father. The look of pure devastation made Derek’s father-in-law appear much older than his years, but this look of immense heartache and sorrow swiftly morphed into a look of uncontrollable rage as his tearful eyes caught Derek’s own tearful eyes. Shoving aside the young man Stiles’ dad often treated and referred to as his other son the now retired Sheriff lunged at Derek, un unhuman roar erupting from within him as he swung his fist in Derek’s direction landing a hard punch that broke Derek’s nose.

`You bastard! You filthy bastard! ´ his father-in-law screamed like a man possessed while throwing one punch after another, and Derek let him knowing he deserved each punch and each abusive word thrown in his direction.

`How could you?! How could you do this – how could you do this to my boy!?´ Noah Stilinski asked voice raw with emotions while he struggled against the firm hold Isaac and Scott had of him, tears of anger and despair streaming down his now flushed face. Stiles no doubt would’ve reminded his dad at that moment to think about his blood pressure.

Derek leans against the wall, exhaustion taking the wind out of his sails more than the beating had done.

`I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. ´ is all Derek can say, he’s not really asking for forgiveness since he doesn’t believe he deserves it or that anyone should forgive him for what he’s not put them all through, but he does want them to know that he regrets full-heartedly the path he’d taken that brought them to this dreadful moment in time.

There are no words to describe how truly remorseful Derek was, none that could paint the heaviness and pain that now festered in his heart and soul, but he was none the less genuinely sorry for falling for June and her charms and for betraying the one and only person he loved; and Derek did love Stiles, perhaps more since he’d chosen to give Derek another chance and for pushing him into going to therapy, Derek loved Stiles with all his flaws and faults because Stiles had been able to do the same with him.

You could not simply stop loving someone like Stiles, you just couldn’t.

Derek could never change the past, could never undo the mistakes he’d made. All he could do was to beg for forgiveness without expecting it.

`I’m so, so sorry. I never…´

Derek doesn’t see the punch coming, he’s not prepared for it the slightest, and it knocks his head right back against the wall and makes him bite a small piece off of his tongue. Dark spots dance around his vision and he feels dizzy, the world is out of focus.

`You’re sorry!? ´ Scott roars grabbing Derek by his shirt, the already stained fabric now stained with Derek’s own blood, `You’re sorry?! ´

Derek can only nod, and allow Scott to drag him towards the window that had allowed the others to gaze at Stiles’ prone form from safe distance.

`Look at him. Look at what you did. ´ Scott snarls in Derek’s ear as Derek takes in the state of his once so handsome, no beautiful and vibrant husband.

`Look. Look at what you’ve done. ´ Scott hisses like an angry snake, shaking Derek ever so slightly while Derek struggles to breathe as he takes in the sight of his husband. The sight of Stiles burned and broken brings forth terrible memories of another fire, of other bodies burned beyond recognition, it makes him think of his uncle Peter who like Stiles had been made to suffer this way because Derek couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.

Once beautiful pale skin now sporting horrific patches of damaged skin, and the way Stiles chest rises and falls unnaturally due to the assistance of machines, but the stark difference here between Stiles and his uncle is the fact that Stiles’ hand was gone.

At once several voices started to demand Scott to let him go, to stop, but Scott seemed deaf or immune to their pleas, that is until always fierce Lydia stepped in between Derek and the one Stiles insisted he should refer to as his brother-in-law even if Stiles never called Derek’s sister sister-in-law, Cora was simply referred to as sis or little-Hale when Stiles really wanted to annoy her.

Grabbing Scott by his crooked jaw, her sharp and well-manicured fingernails digging into his flesh Lydia demanded without effort Scott McCall’s undivided attention.

`Stop. It. ´ and with that Scott released Derek from his hold, huffing out a few times his anger and displeasure before stepping back, creating some distance between him and the feisty woman whom Stiles continued to view as someone closer to divinity than some megger mortal such as himself; Lydia would forever be a goddess in Stiles’ mind, and it was to her he’d trusted a great deal of those secrets he dared not share with Scott.

Turning her red-rimmed eyes towards Derek, the look they held was enough to make him shrink in on himself, Lydia opened her mouth to give what Derek expected to be a proper lashing. He expected her to curse him to hell, to tell him how much of a bastard he was, how undeserving he was of someone like Stiles. But the verbal attack, punishment, never came.

`Don’t say a word. Not one word. ´ her voice was as cold and unforgiving as the hardness in her gaze, and Derek felt compelled to obey her.

`He’s not doing great. His oxygen levels are low, his body temperature keeps going from one extreme to the next. ´ Lydia started, no doubt dumbing down the information for him, `there are infections already taking hold of him. There’s also talk about having more of his arm removed, a couple of inches or so since there’s damage to the bone there. ´

Derek can feel his knees go week, and he leans against the window that allowed him to see his husband of not nearly enough years. They were meant to grow old together, to grow old together while watching their family grow with grandkids and so on, this was not how they were supposed to end.

He feels her hand come to rest on his shoulder, a gentle squeeze the only sign of sympathy and comfort. Lydia might not like him, might wish Stiles had left him long ago, but Derek knew she’d side with whatever decision Stiles would make for above all else she’d defend and support Stiles.

`This is Stiles. Our Stiles. ´ Lydia says after a moment of silence, her voice full of conviction that made Derek think she’d thought a great deal about this.

`He’d never leave us, not like this. Never like this. ´ the banshee continues nodding her head as if to show how true her words were, as if hoping that which each little nod of her head that they would all believe her, that the world would believe her and thus make it so.

`He’d never just leave us without saying goodbye. That’s not what Stiles does. Our Stiles doesn’t leave without telling us he loves us. ´ a small, saddened smile pulls at her lips, `He’ll make it, he’ll do it for us. Stiles isn’t going to break our hearts, that’s not what he does. ´

Derek prays she’s right, he really does.


End file.
